Saitabao Ole Kanchory, a Kenyan attorney is famously known for his role as Raila Odinga’s Chief agent in the 2022 presidential elections.
Ex-Prime Minister Raila Odinga faced off against now-President-elect William Ruto in the 2022 national elections. Kenyans were treated to a variety of performances as opposing teams attempted to outwit each other at the tallying center.
At the center of this tug-of-war at the Bomas of Kenya was the then-unknown Saitabao Ole Kanchory, the man Odinga had appointed as his national chief agent.
Here’s the complete story as told by Jambo Daily
Saitabao Ole Kanchory Background
Kajiado County is where Saitabao Ole Kanchory was born and nurtured. He attended Olkejuado High School before enrolling at the University of Nairobi to pursue a bachelor’s degree in law. The Kenya School of Law awarded him a Postgraduate Diploma in Law. He is currently a High Court of Kenya counsel and the Managing Partner of Kanchory & Co. Advocates.
Becoming Raila Odinga’s Chief Agent
At an event conducted at the Bomas of Kenya on June 5, 2022, former Prime Minister and presidential aspirant Raila Odinga nominated Saitabao Ole Kanchory as the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance national head agent.
He was deputized by Dr. Caroline Karugu, Deputy Governor of Nyeri County, Dr. Oduor Ongwen, and Professor Isiah Kindiki, the brother of William Ruto’s chief agent Kithure Kindiki. He also named lawyer Paul Mwangi as his legal advisor in the team that would represent him at the Bomas of Kenya during the vote tallying.
Supervising the 2022 presidential elections
On August 13, 2022, unrest erupted at the tallying center after several Azimio coalition officials claimed that there were abnormalities in the verification process. According to the Star newspaper, several IEBC personnel conspired with their opponents to tamper with the findings and sneak in forms 34 A. Raila’s chief agent, Saitabao Ole Kanchory, then entered the VIP dais, grabbed the microphone, and declared, “The Bomas is a crime scene.”
Kanchory reported to the press on August 15, 2022, just before the official announcement of the presidential results, that his team did not have verifiable presidential results and that they had sought in vain to reach IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati.
“The agents were assured of receiving Form 34C, which contains the election results.” But the chairman has avoided us all day…” He has purposefully kept himself isolated,” he explained.
Wafula Chebukati would later emerge and declare William Ruto of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) as the President-elect.
Kanchory would then post on social media, “Wafula Chebukati results are irregular, illegal, and fake.” They are obtained through a convoluted, irregular, and illegal procedure. “Four out of six commissioners have disowned and condemned them,” he stated on Twitter.
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Saitabao Ole Kanchory Spilling the Beans
After the outcome of the 2022 presidential election in which Raila lost to Ruto, Kanchory promised to give a detailed account of how Raila ended up losing the election despite receiving support from the former head of state Uhuru Kenyatta.
Kanchory claimed that there was massive sabotaging of Raila’s bid, confusion, power struggles, and infighting among the Azimio coalition as they geared toward the elections. He noted that among the major issues that led to the bad results was the lack of agents in key electoral areas. Approximately 7 months after the elections, Kanchoty, as promised, released not just an article but a book detailing how Raila Odinga and the Azimio coalition lost the presidential election that they truly deserved.
Why Baba is Not The 5th
Kanchory’s book titled Why Baba is Not the 5th, which was released in early April is a detailed account of why Raila Odinga lost the hotly contested 2022 presidential election despite many odds favoring him.
In the book, Kanchory explains how close allies of Odinga and the Handshake regime sabotaged Odinga’s bid, noting that some were only there for personal interests. He highlights that their command center, which was located in Westlands was first under the control of Muhoho Kenyatta, Uhuru Kenyatta’s brother before Prof Makau Mutuia took charge of it.
Kanchoty further explains that their command center collapsed in the midst of the elections which led to the frustration of the entire coalition. The system they were using to relay the elections and tally the votes collapsed leaving them with no results of their own. As such, they had to rely on other tallying centers such as the Royal Media Services-Citizen TV.
Other issues which were brought up include lack of enough agents, changing and confusion of agents, and lack of payments to the agents. Kanchory says that some of the agents have never received their dues up to date. The issue of an extra form 34A book was also brought up, with many claiming that the book was used in rigging, especially in the Mt Kenya region.
The book was launched a few days after Raila Odinga called off anti-government protests in which the leaders had called on the government to lower the cost of living among other issues.
In an interview on KUTV, Kanchory stated that he had decided to release the book at that time since the political temperatures had cooled down after a series of anti-government demos led by Raila Odinga.
He stated that he was still in Azimio and that he did not support the ideology of Bi-partisan talks proposed by William Ruto to end the protest, which he described as a ‘wastage of time’.
The book has sold many copies both in Kenya and internationally and has also been listed on Amazon for sale at a price of 12 dollars. Kanchory says the book will help Azimio to rectify the mistakes to avoid making a similar blunder that cost them an election they were destined to win.
